Something that I really enjoy doing (when I have the time, *ahem* – not with school) is making up photo stories with my Blythes. I haven’t done one what feels like a really long time. Photo stories are fun because they sometimes involve the use of props, making the dolls have funny expressions (looks of exasperation, annoyance, and boredom – just to name a few), and then to come up with the dialogue. Coming up with dialogue is one of my favourite parts of putting together a photo story because it really allows me to tap into the personality that I’ve given them.

Do you make up photo stories with your Blythes?

One thing that I get asked occasionally is “How do I find local Blythe people?” and that can be a tricky answer. If you do what I did, it’s an expensive adventure.

I attended BlytheCon Portland in 2011 not knowing a single soul in the Blythe community (besides friends made online) and I lucked out. I found people who are local to me and it’s been an amazing ride so far with my local Blythe group. We have meets, we have swaps, we have an annual Christmas party. It is an amazing group of people and I couldn’t be happier to be organizing Canada’s first BlytheCon with a trio of awesome people (BlytheCon Vancouver! Yay!).

For those who aren’t about to attend a BlytheCon or an event of equal proportions, I highly recommend going onto forums (Blythe Kingdom) or Facebook groups (e.g. Blythe World). If you are serious about wanting to find someone locally to you, remember to keep yourself safe when interacting with people that you meet online:

• Ask if someone is a Blythe fan in a major metropolitan centre close to you, or in the general around around you, rather than stating your own town/city if it isn’t a big area.
• If meeting up with someone, meet in a public place that is well-lit where people will be (e.g. mall, public library).
• Safety in numbers! Bring a friend (or someone you know) with you. Two birds with one stone – meeting new people and introducing people to Blythe all at the same time.

Always remember that your personal safety is number one. As lovely as people can appear online, someone could state that they are a young teenaged doll hobbyist and really be a middle-aged man with ill intentions. Keep yourself safe and have fun! There are many wonderful people in the Blythe community and if you’re lucky, you’ll find someone nearby to hang out with and have some meets with.

Yesterday was Family Day in British Columbia, a statutory holiday. This meant that I was on “Sunday” mode and forgot that it was actually a Monday. This is why the Question of the Week is a day late – whoops! (I knew I should have scheduled the post ahead of time…)

Even dolls take selfies sometimes.

The interesting thing about Flickr is that you can find out what camera people are using for their photos, if the information is embedded into the photograph. I see that a lot of other people also use their camera phones like I do, what did I ever do before I got a phone with data to easily upload photos for all of the internet to see? I rely so much on my smart phone when it comes to a lot of things. My calendar, email accounts, social media, apps related to school, music, news, and my most carried-along camera. Yes, I still have a point-and-shoot camera, but I don’t always take it around with me because it’s not something that I always think about taking it along with me. I really wish I did take more photos of dolls on a regular basis, besides mostly at local Blythe meets, but c’est la vie! My main camera is, without a doubt, my smart phone (a Galaxy S3). So handy and it fits into my bag or coat pocket easily.

What do you use for your main camera?

Author: Louis Bou
First Published: April 2014
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
256 Pages

The Doll Scene: An International Collection of Crazy, Cool, Custom-Designed Dolls by Louis Bou is a great little book that I treated myself a little while ago after seeing photos of it over and over again on Instagram when it first came out. The Doll Scene features 25 artists who customize or fully create beautiful dolls. The aspect that really drew me to this book was the fact that there is a Blythe on the cover (a custom doll by Caramelaw), that was the lure to get me to look at the rest of the book. Click to read more of this entry.

For a very, very long time I was very bad at remembering to pack dolls for local Blythe meets. I would always bring a doll, but it was usually whoever had an outfit change the most recently because I wasn’t about to bring a doll who was wearing the exact same outfit to two meets in a row! I’m a bit better now though. When I’m entering details of a meet onto my phone, I also set myself a reminder the night before. This is immensely useful as it reminds me that I need to have a doll (or two) ready for the next morning or afternoon.

Primrose at a recent local doll meet.
Primrose is wearing Luxie Lou (top) and Blythe Couture (pants).

My processes is now as follows:

• Set a reminder on my phone for the night before a doll meet.
• I (now) pay attention to who was brought to a meet last and try to bring a different girl.
• Then I go forth and dig through the doll clothes and shoes to put together an outfit.
• Lastly, these newly dressed dolls get put into the doll carry bags that I use (the ones I have are by Sew Pixie) and then into my purse or a tote bag for ease of carrying.

Getting the dolls ready the night before means that I don’t have the moments of “Oh no!” half an hour before I have to leave when I realize that my dolls aren’t packed yet. The little act of setting a reminder on my phone means that I don’t have that small amount of stress before going to a doll meet and I am also to take the time to bring a different doll to the meets as well as making sure that they’re fully dressed (you don’t want to know how many meets I’ve attended without doll shoes).

How do you prepare for doll meets? Have any tips to share?